


Good For What Ails Ya

by bzarcher, solarbird



Series: Overwatch Cryptid AU [4]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blood, Dark Humor, F/F, Learning to be a vampire, Medicinal Cannibalism, Vampires, Victorian Medicine, Weird History, Widowtracer, cryptid AU, no really, truth is stranger than fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-06-30 21:25:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15759984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bzarcher/pseuds/bzarcher, https://archiveofourown.org/users/solarbird/pseuds/solarbird
Summary: Amélie Lacroix has a lot to learn about being a vampire, but fortunately her girlfriend always has a few ideas about how to help. Maybe a few stories about the good old days is just what she needs...





	Good For What Ails Ya

**Author's Note:**

> So the credit for a lot of this goes to Solar, who had an idea and surprised me with it, which was delightful!
> 
> In terms of timing for the AU, this likely takes place sometime between chapter 4 and chapter 5 of Filthy Parasites. :)
> 
> (And for those who haven't read Candyfloss & Lace: Lena Oxton is a 251 year old vampire. Amélie Lacroix is a four month old vampire at this point after the messiest annulment in history, and they're very much in love in New York City.)

"I feel," Amélie said between sips of blood, "as though I should be learning how to feed, on my own."

The newer vampire, no longer hungry, looked at the drained packet of blood sitting in her hand before she fell back onto her bed with a sigh. It satisfied - was _good_ , even - but simply pulling a unit from the fridge and warming it lacked something. Some sense of achievement, or perhaps self-sufficiency.

It was strange to think of having instincts in her new life as a vampire, but some part of her knew there was no  _challenge_ in this. The occasions when she and Lena fed from each other had brought much more of a thrill, but they also tended to...escalate, which was not always helpful.

_But what would you do without her?_

The separation of spaces - the declaration that this room was _her_ territory,  _not_ Lena's - had helped, but there was still, beneath it, a drive towards independence.

It wasn't that she wanted to leave - not even a little. But... it felt important that she would be able to stand on her own. By Lena's side, of course, but by virtue of her own strength. She couldn’t even say how much of it had been from her transformation, and how much from her experiences with Gérard.

Lena nodded from the doorway, understanding. "Yeh. I... know how it feels.  Though honestly, learning the hard way is no fun. Would y'mind if I gave you some tips?"

"Oh, I most certainly do not mean completely alone," she said, smiling up at her lover. "Just... without relying on a supply from Angela. This arrangement may last for some time, but," she laughed, softly, "nothing lasts forever."

 _And,_ she admitted to herself, _if I were to feed from another person, I have no wish to kill them._

"True enough," the elder vampire agreed. "Went through some pretty lean times here and there. Especially just before I took Jack up on his offer to cross the pond. Knowing I could always make do was pretty critical." A smile flashed across her face. "Tho' honestly, luv, it used to be a  _lot_ easier back when I was new."

Amélie tilted her head at Lena's smile. "What do you mean?"

"Believe it or not," she replied, "for a while there, feeding was _easy._ Almost as easy as this! See, back then..." She looked thoughtful, and Amélie gestured to the bed beside her, inviting her in, to sit down in  _her_ space, and Lena grinned as she popped over. “Have I mentioned this is the best couch ever?”

She rolled her eyes. “Because it is  _not_ a couch?”

“Nah,” Lena breezed. “Because you’re on it, luv.”

Amélie covered the swell of affection she felt with a snort. “So - ‘back then’?”

"Right!" Lena said, settling in. "For th' longest time, people said human blood was _medicinal_. To them, even! Public executions were still a big deal, an’ after, people would line up for blood. It was good for what ailed you! So you'd dress down, cough a bit, they'd serve y'right up a nice cuppa, fresh off the body."

Amélie blinked, amazed. "...are you serious?"

Lena nodded as she put her hands behind her head. "'Course, I came around just as that was dyin' out - but it still helped a lot early on, especially if I was tryin’ not to draw much attention."

"People as in... humans?" she asked cautiously, making sure.

"Yep!" Lena nodded her head, confirming. "It was like...heh..."

She grinned evilly, her fangs still coated with a bit of the blood she’d had earlier.

"...a bloody tea party, it was..."

Amélie groaned and threw the emptied packet at Lena. "Get out of my room."

Lena giggled as she jumped away, landing back in the hall. Even in joking, she’d been clear that their territories must be respected. "It happened, though! I'm not makin' it up, I swear!"

"Why...?"

She shrugged, good-naturedly. "Got me, luv. They had this thing, 'like cures like,' yeh? Humors an’ that. So if the barber said your blood was bad, drink some good blood, maybe it'd help."

Amélie’s brows knit. "But...drinking the blood, it did not make them ill?”

"It wasn’t _good_ for them,” Lena agreed. “Wasn't just blood either - could be anything. They'd eat skulls, too." She thought back on it. "For a while, mummy powder was the big thing."

"Mummy... powder...?"

"Yep! Grind 'em up, mix with alcohol, drink it down. Europe was one big stewpot of medicinal cannibalism for just ages. It's why mummies are so rare - most of 'em got et!"

Amélie just started giggling uncontrollably, suddenly picturing a waiter with a mummified arm still in five-millennium-old wrappings, the hand being twisted 'round and 'round, bits falling out the other end, like a pepper grinder.

Lena tilted her head, a thoughtful look crossing her face. "I've never quite decided whether they saw one of us healing up after feeding and decided it'd work for them, too, or whether maybe, way way back, that's... I dunno, maybe that's where we came from originally, yeh? How we evolved. How we split off from 'em, however long ago."

Amélie shook her head, still laughing, just a little. "Well. Perhaps Angela's research may shed some light on that. Does she know of this history?"

"Dunno,” Lenna answered with a shrug. “But ... yeh, it's the kind of thing I might mention, innit."

"You might,” Amélie laughed as she thought of the pepper grinder again. “If nothing else... it is rather funny."

"Yeh," Lena grinned. "It really is."

**Author's Note:**

> So the drinking blood after executions, good blood to heal bad, grinding up mummies, and even weirder stuff? 
> 
> [THAT IS ENTIRELY REAL.](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-gruesome-history-of-eating-corpses-as-medicine-82360284/)
> 
> History is great. :)


End file.
